Dear friends, our prayers “matter” because God matters, right?  Good question, right?  As I really think about this and look in the mirror, I ask myself, “Is it really true that God matters to me?”  “How do I know?”  These questions are too important to not stop and think about.  So, in prayer, I ask God to show me the condition of my heart and what really matters to me.  In scripture, He shows me what He wants and what He deems to be sin.  If I honestly look at my heart, what I find is lots of things the Bible says is sin.  In fact, I am sin-full!  God knows all about my sin-full heart.  So, what to do?

Please forgive my preaching here.  We have Pastors for that.  From our Pastors and from our Bibles, we learn that when God speaks of my “heart”, He does not mean the thing that pumps blood through my body.  What God means when He looks at my heart is that He looks into the control center in me that determines everything I feel emotionally, everything I think in my mind, or speak with my mouth or do with my body.  God knows my heart better than I do and He shows me what He sees…lots of selfishness and idols.

Jesus wants us to hear Him say, “Follow Me.”  Follow how?  We know Jesus in His humanity prayed.  And He calls us to pray to follow Him and do as He did.  We hear God’s direction to us in 2 Chronicles 7:14, 

“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and PRAY and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

God sent His very own Holy Spirit to show me my sin and ongoing need for His mercy and forgiveness.  I know I am His work in progress and how much I need to continuously PRAY and seek His face.  He even helps me to turn away from doing things “my way”.  (I can be deceived by pride and confidence in “my way”.)  I can cry out to Him for help and He answers. From His answers to my prayer, I know it is when I PRAY and humbly seek His face, His way, that He will do His work healing me; and the even the greater work of healing our people and land.

In prayer, I can say “thank you” to Him, and know that He matters.

Randy Taylor